" I never dig nails.... ever! "

[relic nut]

I heard of someone making this comment once, and here's my thoughts. He either misses a lot of good stuff ( and I'd love to hunt behind him ) or he's full of it. What's your thoughts? I've dug iffy signals that I thought was a nail and it was something good, and have had great signals turn into a nail. Only sure way to know is dig It. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes not. We all dig alittle junk. It's part of the game.

HH, Relic Nut

 

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[soopacee]

Its like any hobby....when i collected football cards, this 1 guy, his whole collection was from "pack" hits, he NEVER bought a single card....he was the nail guy of football cards 😒

 

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Same logic as Blackjack : It's SOMETIMES a mistake to not take another hit when you have 20 in your hand. But the ODDS ARE: It's going to be a mistake. The only exception is if you are card-counting eh ?

Well, it likely depends on your machine, the environment your hunting in as well as experience.
However, through my first 50 hours of (beach) metal detecting I have the results of being both Sensitive (dig everything) and being Specific (dig only mid and hi tones). Remember that these are not US coins and most of them give me a mid-lo mixed signal and indicated as a pulltab. Essentially there is no statistical difference if looking at the time spent & coins found.

Overview of my metal detecting hobby.
Sensitive (Dig All)
Values
Hours Spent	27.75
Value Found	R$ 18.94
Value/Hour	R$ 0.68
Counts
Junk	822
Coins	48
Jewelry	0
Relics	0
Targets	870
Targets/Hour	31.35
Coins/Hour	1.73
Specific (Hi-Mid tones Only)
Values
Hours Spent	22.00
Value Found	R$ 12.64
Value/Hour	R$ 0.57
Counts
Junk	392
Coins	27
Jewelry	0
Relics
Targets	419
Targets/Hour	19.05
Coins/Hour	1.23
Total
Values
Hours Spent	49.75
Value Found	R$ 31.58

Counts
Total Junk	1325.00
Total Coins	77.00
Total Jewelry	0.00
Total Relics
Total Targets	1402
Targets/Hour	25.15
Coins/Hour	1.38
P-value (S vs. E)	0.0691435242

 

[DigIron2]

A old timer that got me into the hobby once told me a real hunter will dig a nail if it sounds good. Have used that philosophe ever since. Heck sometimes I dig them just to see if they are a square nail.

 

[WhiteTornado]

I know of a guy in my local club who once dug nearly 100 nails in one day's hunt, but he did get 5 or 6 nice IHCs, too.

 

[CTwoods]

I know of a guy in my local club who once dug nearly 100 nails in one day's hunt, but he did get 5 or 6 nice IHCs, too.

I'm not being a wise guy, but 100 nails versus a few IH? I would wonder if he needs a different machine, or maybe he does not hear the subtle differences in the quality of the audio signals?

I am only an occasional Md'er for less than 20 years. I only hunt old woods, cellars, and a very few currently tilled fields. I am not really a coin hunter, because the soils here make most 1700s coppers totally slick. So I prefer relics, buttons, whatever, and I never pass on a non ferrous target, no matter how little time I have, or how tired I am. I also like iron relics, so I dig ferrous targets that sneak past the iron reject, but you know that they are ferrous. And, I almost never get nails, and the few I dig seem to be just a tiny part of the upper piece. Those do not sound like non ferrous on my machines, but sound interesting enough to dig. I do like digging, as much as sweeping.

My 2 machines are different models made by a long gone company, and sticking with them all these years, and digging so many iffy signals as well as great signals, I seem to have the mindset that I will never need to upgrade unless they break. I learned so much from two oldtimers on the net, on just how important it is to really understand the audio variances with these machines, rather than a visual ID. One was a moderator here, and he has passed away, and I miss his experienced advice.

 

[RustyGold]

You nailed it! I have dug those bent nails and thought I had silver with every detector I've owned.

 

[nsdq]

I got a iffy sound pulled a nail and a quarter out of the hole, even have pulled Indian Heads out on a iron hit along with Zinc cents.... do i dig them everytime nope only about half of them i do .